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THUMB-SUCKING 

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BY 

HARRIET HICKOX HELLER 



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MONOGRAPH OF THE 

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE 
1714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia 

COPYRIGHT, I9I4 

American Institute of ChilIj Life 















































© Cl. A 3 7 6 2 01 

JUN -8 1914 

V/n 








THUMB-SUCKING—A SYMPTOM. 

Why does a baby suck his thumb? Did you ever stop to think 
that there must be a reason ? 

Doubtless in the beginning he “wanted something/’ He was quite 
uncomfortable and quite by accident, incident to his restlessness, his 
thumb found its way into his mouth. He kept it there or returned it 
there because it gives him some satisfaction. We are told that the 
mouth is one of the three centers of the body where the greatest 
number of nerves end, and is therefore extremely sensitive. All grati¬ 
fication which he has known has come through these nerves from the 
sucking of food. Now he lays hold of his thumb and gets a certain 
simulation of this satisfaction since the gastric juice becomes active 
and possibly in some measure relieves the discomfort of the stomach. 

But it must be some stronger reason which leads him to acquire 
the habit of putting his thumb into his mouth. If we take into con¬ 
sideration—what specialists believe—that the sensations of the little 
child are very indistinct and his impressions very vague, we must 
conclude that nothing short of an imperative demand with a very young 
baby could prove so strong a stimulation as to lead to an effort of 
self-gratification. But in what does the self-produced comfort consist? 
What leads to such persistent practice and the formation of a habit 
sometimes very difficult to break? 

We are told that “making a rhythm” is a real creation, a self- 
expression of no mean order. Self-expression always gives happiness. 
In sucking his thumb, the baby has created a rhythm which, to quote 
Dr. Seashore in his “Psychology in Daily Life,” is “one of the well- 
nigh universal periodicities of nature which we instinctively crave.” 
He continues, “What, then, is the nature of the pleasure in rhythm? 
Rhythm gives a stimulating lulling effect, indicative of an inceptive 
elation and ecstasy. It is purposive and passive, it is effective and easy. 
And why is the effective and easy so agreeable ? Because human nature 
craves the largest returns for the minimum outlay. And why does 
human nature crave this? Because it tends to preserve life.” 

For eighteen months it was my privilege to visit daily and many 
times oftener an ever-shifting institution family of thirty babies 
under two years of age. After close observation I came to the con¬ 
clusion that a thoroughly well, rapidly developing child is not often 
addicted to thumb-sucking. A hopelessly ill baby does not find com¬ 
fort in his thumb. If a child apparently “has no chance” and still 
sucks his thumb, there is hope. When an infant who is “not thriving” 
is given a wet nurse, he at once pays less attention to his thumb. In 
other words, thumb-sucking seems to indicate a decided need, with 
power enough to make a struggle to get satisfaction. These institu¬ 
tion babies were never given a “pacifier” and the thumb was dis¬ 
couraged with moderate vigor, and yet they were almost universally 
addicted to the habit. It is only a small percentage of children in 
homes who are thumb-suckers. 

What generalization, then, is to be drawn ? These babies had the 
personal attention of a child specialist of much more than local fame. 
The nurses were senior students in a local hospital, and they were 
under a very wonderful “head nurse,” whose love for her work was 
unquestioned and whose training had been exceptional. Hence, from 

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a physical standpoint, their care was excellent. They could not, of 
course, have the individual “mothering” attention which a baby gets 
in its home. In some cases a young nurse would become especially 
attached to a certain baby by very reason of its forlorn, pitable condi¬ 
tion. She was allowed to “special” this child, that is, she would give 
it every moment of her spare time. She would talk to it, play with 
it, as often as possible give it the necessary physical care, and take it 
frequently in her arms and cuddle it. Sometimes this attention would 
bring a decided improvement to a child in three or four days. Often, 
after a few weeks the little chap would be lifted from the class of 
hopeless, unattractive little tots to the ranks of the chubby, bright¬ 
eyed darlings that everyone coveted and admired. (Excessive thumb¬ 
sucking invariably ceased in the process.) 

A wet nurse was often the solution of a frail baby’s difficulties, 
but two young women with equally nutritious milk may differ very 
much in their powers to “bring a baby through.” Not only does such 
a nurse have the power to “hold up” her milk for her own child, which 
she is also nursing, but if she, for any reason, does not wish to feed a 
child, her milk does not seem to agree with him. In one particular 
case one of our babies had a very narrow escape. Instead of the 
help we had hoped he would gain, he took a sudden and well-nigh 
fatal back-set. We found that the wet nurse “just hated to touch 
him.” One of our fortunate neighbors, the wife of a banker, gave 
birth to a son, and with his advent came an unusual wealth of food 
which he could not use. Knowing how precious is this milk, this 
mother, who might well have been giving her attention to ridding 
herself of mammalian responsibilities, as do many of her sisters, 
carefully garnered the riches and sent it to the little motherless babies. 
It really helped materially with one delicate child. It seemed to me 
one of the most intelligent services I have ever known a thoughtful 
woman to give, but it did not do the wonderful thing which taking 
the milk from the breast does under the best circumstances. 

Studying these conditions led to the conclusion that there is an 
element of “mothering” that babies need which is neither physical 
attention nor physical food. It is not merely mother’s milk that must 
be given, but a communication of vitality through physical expressions 
of love. This was really what the good wet nurse did which made 
her better than the woman who simply gave her milk. It is a some¬ 
thing which would naturally go with maternal nursing, but which is 
not necessarily of it. It seems reasonable that it is the lack of this 
phase of mothering which the institution baby is always seeking to 
supply. It is the “something” which he always wants. 

Years before, I had seen a little child, by an illness of the mother, 
deprived of her natural food. At first she refused to take nourishment; 
but, by and by, when very hungry, accepted her bottle, and with the 
tears streaming down her chubby little face, she made a compromise 
with an unkind fate by slipping her hand inside her stocking and 
rhythmically stroking a little fat leg while the bottle was drained. 
From that time on she thus consoled herself. Now I could see that 
she, so far as was possible, was supplying for herself the creature 
comfort which her mother’s breast had been to her, and I felt sure 
that our little waifs, so far as possible, were supplying to themselves 

4 


with what the vital pulse of mother love would have been to them, 
in the poor little, self-induced rhythm of thumb-sucking. This is 
easily understood, if Seashore is right when he says, “Rhythm gives a 
sense of freedom and luxury; rhythm gives a sense of power—it 
carries; rhythm finds a resonance in the whole organism.” We under¬ 
stand more clearly how with the waif it is an effort at self-preserva¬ 
tion, justifiable self-satisfaction and “tends to preserve life.” 

“But,” you say, “my baby has a perfectly good mother and still 
he sucks his thumb. Of course, I do not nurse him, but I tend him.” 
If a baby were not restless within and dissatisfied, he would not put 
his thumb into his mouth. The fact that you “tend” him may some¬ 
times make him more anxious for his thumb, for you may be nervous 
and “fluttered,” or, what is a more serious possibility, you may, when 
you had full control of the little one’s conditions, quite uncon¬ 
sciously and unintentionally, in some way, have depleted him. The 
demands upon the woman of today are so new, unusual and varying 
that it is very difficult for her to adjust to them socially, physically and 
mentally. What woman is not at times overborne ? And happy, indeed, 
is the woman who is sure that she has not before their birth depleted 
her children. We are learning a little of eugenics. Possibly, in time 
we may be able to understand the why, and prevent this sad happening. 

The thumb-sucking baby wants rhythm, vitality, life, to fill in 
somewhat within himself where there is a lack, a craving which de¬ 
mands satisfaction. If this be true, thumb-sucking is a symptom, and 
the “breaking of the habit” lies in the restoring of the condition of 
vital poise and physical vigor in the child. 

While I was in the midst of my study of the little thumb-sucking 
babies I read some discussion on the subject by Dr. Earl Barnes. He 
considers thumb-sucking, finger-sucking, or even a dry nipple a thing 
which should be stopped. “Not,” he says, “by argument or by the 
instilling of ideas, but simply by stopping it. Slap hands if necessary.” 
In mitigation of the crime of these infant miscreants, he urges that 
the morals of our daily conduct, a vast deal of it, is due to what is 
stored up in the spinal cord. Gradually it became clear to me that 
when Dr. Barnes talks of cure through the epidermis he has in mind 
roly-poly little boys, with several sets of ancestral silver spoons waiting 
to be indented by their first incisors. He has not studied as have I the 
institution baby, with its slight chance of life. If he could have seen 
Phyllis and Gertrude-. 

These were two wee, wizened girls. Phyllis was a long baby. 
When she was two months old she weighed four pounds. Gertrude 
was of slighter frame and brought the scales down to three.. Every 
day for months, as I peeped under the blankets, quite expecting each 
time that life might have flown, there they were, still animate, tug¬ 
ging away at thumbs too small almost to be observed. The fact 
that Dr. Barnes’ vision is of children classed as fortunate and mine 
of these forlorn, shows only two very different phases of the same 
problem and proves, if, as I believe, the two little girls were held back 
from eternity by their thumbs, that at least no infant should be 
deterred from using his—by drastic measures. 

May it not be possible that the distinctly evil and sensuous later 
practices with which Dr. Barnes directly compares thumb-sucking, 
may also be symptoms of a depleted condition on the part of children 



who fall into these errors? If so, the fact should be recognized and 
the children treated with sympathy and intelligence rather than by 
harsh methods, not because harsh methods are unpleasant, but because 
they are ineffective. They merely induce shame and confusion in 
the mind of the child, who is a sufferer rather than a sinner. 

A law of our being makes us sensitive to “atmosphere.” All 
children, and, in fact, all adults, dread a person who is “cross,” because 
when in that mood one disturbs harmony, he “hurts.” “Don’t you 
love me?” whispers the little child when he has stood by his father’s 
office desk a few moments watchipg him wrestle with “affairs.” 
“There is one thing I have made up my mind to,” exclaims a half- 
grown girl, with whom I spend my evenings, and then as I look up 
she finishes, “and that is, that my mother doesn’t love me.” Then I 
know that I have gotten very much engrossed in my own problems 
of thought and she desires to turn my attention to herself. Well- 
cared-for children must be held at close range. That is “living with,” 
cameraderie. We may know in time that the deepest meaning of all 
relationships of human contact is adequate vital exchange. 

The most serious case of bondage to the thumb-sucking that I 
have ever personally known was my friend Helen. She was an 
earnest girl, of a refined family. Always and always there were 
times when she must have her thumb. As she grew older all ordinary 
and some extraordinary cures were tried. Time went on. The ridicule 
of brothers and sisters and the jests of the family were alike unavail¬ 
able. When a strange sinking within came, she had to get help. She 
knew no other way to poise. So she hid and sucked her thumb. In 
this way she got quiet. If her parents could have guessed the serious¬ 
ness of her distress, they would have been deeply concerned. She 
did not know how to tell them and they did not understand. Helen 
had been born with a great unsatisfied need. The times when she 
had this strange unrest grew less frequent as she grew older. She 
came into a strong young girlhood, but still, on occasion when she was 
distressed and uncomfortable, ofttimes behind a book she found her 
thumb. When she was fourteen, as the Lenten season drew near, the 
children discussed what should be made the test of self-control and 
self-denial. When it came Helen’s turn, she said, “I will give up my 
thumb,” and she did. She had gained poise, discarded her device and 
now stood free. 

To reiterate, a baby sucks its thumb because it eases a distress or 
discomfort. Sucking the thumb helps a discomfort, because it creates 
a rhythm which, by the laws of life, is a soothing self-expression. 
Self-expression always brings comfort, happiness, growth. He con¬ 
tinues to find his thumb, because the need of soothing, self-expression 
remains, because “it tends to preserve life.” The child’s necessity 
is as likely “nerves” or lack of poise as other physical derangement. 
Such need may result in more serious sensuous self-gratifications. 
Thumb-sucking is the child’s effort to center, to concentrate, to 
“get on.” 

Miss Blow says, “All rhythmic movements and all rhythmic sounds 
may be translated into the tireless affirmation, T am I.’ ” He is uncon¬ 
sciously like those who gaze into crystal spheres, because they believe 
they thereby clarify their spiritual vision and are self-restored. 

Q 


“An interesting theory,” you say, “but nevertheless, we don’t 
want our children sucking their thumbs.” Certainly not. Let us 
treat it as a symptom and supply the requirements of the child. It is 
when “older babies” are tired or near sleepy time or unhappy by 
reproof or misunderstanding, that they are most likely to seek comfort 
from the thumb. Let us, as their care-takers, “understand” and hold 
the little fingers a few minutes while we comfort and satisfy them 
with the warmth and steadiness of our grasp. Thus the rhythm of 
our love expressions meets and fills the need. There are other helpful 
rhythms also. There is the rhythm of music, of poetry, of the swing 
and of dancing feet, as soon as he has healthy growth enough to go 
forward, seeking independent development. The sweetest rhythm in 
the. world is the mother-singing as, to the child, the most vital mag¬ 
netism in the world is the mother-presence. The restless little one 
needs intelligent “mothering,” if not from his natural mother, from a 
vigorous woman of maternal instincts and impulses. The accepted 
theory that children should be put off by themselves to go to sleep 
alone is excellent, like other theories, if it works. It is well for the 
child who quickly drops asleep, but no little one should be long awake 
alone in the darkness. The music of the piano, the little song and the 
prayer should fill in the few moments before unconsciousness comes. 
A favorite toy or dolly or Teddy bear to take to bed and tend will 
sometimes help. It may be that thumb-sucking has increased since 
cradles went out of fashion. 

A thumb-sucking child should be especially studied with reference 
to the material and movements that are attractive to him. The finger- 
play games, a few of which are known to every one, are very important, 
and the mother should learn new ones from the kindergartner or 
invent some to meet her own needs. The toys with which this child 
plays should be especially studied, and things that he likes should be 
found for him—simple things, that may be kept clean and that will 
not readily break. It will be well to remember that you are trying to 
find for him a means of growth and self-expression that will be fun, 
so that he may find something better than his thumb. Wholesome 
conditions for general health and aids to active play and enough “nurs¬ 
ing” will bring a normal, poised state of comfort which will make sleep 
come readily and naturally without the self-induced rhythm. 

Even when all this has been done, there may be a little shell of 
the old habit remaining. How many times do you put your tongue 
against the place where your tooth was out, after the skilful dentist 
has substituted another for you? That, of course, is the shell, the 
mechanism of habit. The editor of a recent newspaper, after com¬ 
menting upon the frequently recorded requests for a method “to break 
the habit of thumb-sucking,” says the only thing which he knows as 
effective, “is to take the child into the back yard and bury it up to 
its neck!” While this is intended to be humorous, it shows the struggle 
which many people have had when they try to take from the child 
this something which means a good deal to him, without replacing 
it in his life with some better means of growth. 

The efficacy of the various more or less mechanical methods which 
are said to cure probably depends largely upon how near the baby was 
ready to quit of his own accord at the time you began to try “to break 

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



him.” Very often binding the hands so that the 0 033 261 227 ft 
gotten into the mouth at sleep time is effective, 
quinine and other bad-tasting things with which the offending member 
has been anointed, have had their share of glory in effecting a release. 
Someone has recently discovered that a piece of adhesive plaster will 
strap poor little Mr. Thumb into oblivion and get him forgotten. A 
bit of “silk courtplaster” may be used to close the mouth hermetically— 
for the time being effectively preventing the practice. Those who are 
successful in using the power of suggestion to effect the habits of 
their children have here a suitable field in which to achieve. In fact, 
most cases effectively cured have doubtless been materially aided by 
some one’s strong belief that “he would outgrow it.” 

The Home Progress Magazine recently published a symposium on 
this theme. Two of the remedies there suggested are here quoted: 

“When I read this question, I actually drew in my breath quickly, 
for it made me think of all I had gone through to break my child of 
sucking her finger. She did it from the time she was born, and I 
let her do it, because it kept her quiet, which was a big mistake. When 
she was eighteen months old I started in to break her of the dreadful 
habit. I used bitter aloes and quinine, but to no avail. For weeks I 
sewed a bag on to her sleeve, but at times she would manage to get 
that finger out, and back it would go in the mouth. One day she asked 
for an English doll carriage—she was then three. I told her the car¬ 
riage would come to her if she would keep her finger out of her 
mouth; but the minute it went back into her mouth, the buggy would 
disappear. The coveted carriage arrived. The first day she got 
through beautifully; but the second, I saw the finger go into the 
mouth. I said nothing, when she went into another room I quietly 
hid the carriage. When she returned she asked for it. ‘Why,’ I said, 

‘has the carriage gone? You must have forgotten and let the finger 
get into your mouth, and the carriage saw you and has gone away.’ 
After three days the carriage appeared. She never sucked her finger 
again.” 

“I tried all available means of breaking my little boy of this 
habit, from the time he was born until he was over four. Finally 
he was going away to see his grandpa, and partly by making him 
ashamed, and at the same time singing to him (which was not cus¬ 
tomary), he was able to fall asleep without the help of his thumb. 

In about a week or so he was cured.” 

Both of these instances seem to be in harmony with the results 
of my observations. Stimulating the desire to be through with a baby 
way and substituting some better comfort and means of expression 
proved successful remedies. 

At least this theme is worthy of our serious attention. To nurture 
is an inexpressible privilege. If our generation is producing new 
demands or certain requirements in increased measure, it must learn 
to comprehend and satisfy them. To nurture a child is to give him 
what he needs for growth. This is our precious function. “The 
response of life to life” is “the disclosure of human and divine love.” 

Let us grapple with thumb-sucking as a symptom. 


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